Jays fans want David Price back in Toronto, but that might not happen and unfortunately that doesn’t sit well with a lot of the Blue Jays faithful.
What do pitchers David Price, Jesse Chavez, and J.A. Happ have in common? They have all played for the Blue Jays in their career. Two of them have returned to Toronto, but so far neither of those players is named David Price. The Blue Jays traded reliever Liam Hendricks to Oakland for pitcher Jesse Chavez, while signing J.A. Happ to a three-year deal to return to Toronto.
From a fan’s perspective, these guys are not what Toronto Blue Jays fans want; just look around the internet on facebook, reddit, twitter, and forums and fan pages. What the fans want is David Price as the team’s ace. They don’t care about Chavez coming back. His time in Toronto was short and not so impressive. J.A. Happ isn’t the lefty they want, even if he could help at the end of the rotation. It’s all about David Price, a player who the fans clearly fell for in a short period of time. It’s obvious that Price is a player that could easily fill the Rogers Center seats for fifteen+ games; he is a difference maker and a massive fan favorite.
Unfortunately the fans might not get what they want. When you bring in Happ and Chavez to a rotation that has Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada, Drew Hutchison, and potentially Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna, you create a bit of a log jam. These moves by Tony LaCava and Mark Shapiro are in a small way saying, “We are trying to fill the rotation, but Price probably won’t be a Jay again”, which of course isn’t what some people want to hear. Let’s also remember that the Red Sox are really interested in Price, and it would hurt the Jays if he goes to Boston. But the Sox are willing to spend a lot of money to make sure they get him.
The problem with bringing in Happ and Chavez is that the Jays faithful are still royally annoyed about Alex Anthopoulos leaving, which is really funny because he never signed starting pitchers to long term deals. Yet Marco Estrada and Happ were both given multi-year deals. It’s time to lift magical AA veil and remember that he did some things that really annoyed people and sometimes didn’t make moves when he probably should have.
For now it seems like there will be no more moves that involve pitching, but unless there is a press conference in which LaCava and Shapiro come out and say “We will stop making moves involving pitching”, there is always a chance that the Jays add another starting pitcher. With Price, Zach Greinke, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Doug Fister, Yovanni Gallardo, and many more starting pitchers available, who knows who could be wearing a Jays jersey next season.
Having David Price back in Toronto would be pretty fantastic, especially with Toronto’s offense staying virtually the same next season. There is a small chance he could come back, but let’s not hold our breath for too long. This might upset some people, but before they get out the torches and pitchforks, there are still potential moves and signings to be made. Who knows, maybe Jays management will surprise us. There is one final thing we need to think about while we wait: would Alex Anthopolous have signed David Price to a contract for a lot of money and over five years? Probably not.
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